Easy Mini Loaf Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

Looking for a way to use up summer zucchini? These delicious mini loaves of zucchini bread with chocolate chips are your solution.

Make the best zucchini bread, perfectly moist with the right amount of sweetness. Wrap a loaf and give it as a birthday gift, bring it as dessert to a luncheon, or eat it as an afternoon snack.

This moist zucchini bread recipe makes three mini loaves of bread and uses one small to medium-sized zucchini. It is sweetened with white and brown sugar and moistened with sour cream.

Throw in some mini chocolate chips, and you've got a sweet snack that is healthy-ish. Thanks zucchini!

RELATED: You may also be interested in breakfast zucchini bread muffins. They are made with Greek yogurt and can be mixed up the night before and baked in the morning.

Ingredients

• Fresh zucchini. Use a box grater, food processor, or zester to shred a medium to small zucchini. Squeeze the excess moisture out of the grated zucchini. 
  
  There are different sizes of zucchini. One thing that makes this an easy zucchini bread recipe is that you can be flexible on the amount of zucchini you add.
  
  If you have extra zucchini from another meal, use it, even if it isn't quite as much as the recipe calls for.
  
  Likewise, if you end up with a lot of zucchini shreds, you can add a bit more than the recipe calls for with little change in the loaf.

• White and brown sugar. Both types of sugar add moisture and flavor to the bread.

• Vegetable oil. The oil keeps the loaves fresh longer than melted butter.

• Large eggs (room temperature). Pull the eggs out of the fridge before you begin the prep work so they are at room temperature when it's time to mix them into the batter.

• Sour cream. Sour cream moistens and gives the loaves a slightly tangy flavor.

• Dry ingredients: All-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.

• Vanilla extract. Vanilla adds a nice flavor.

• Spices: Cinnamon and allspice.

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips. Mini chocolate chips are the perfect weight for mini loaves.

Substitutions

• Swap out milk or semi-sweet chocolate for white chocolate chips.

• Use finely shredded carrots in place of some or all of the zucchini.

• Try Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for a version that is lighter than the original recipe.

• Consider replacing half of the oil with applesauce for applesauce zucchini bread with a moist texture and less fat.

Variations

• You can make this mini zucchini bread recipe in a standard loaf pan. Increase the bake time to 55 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs.

Directions

PREHEAT the oven to 425°F (220°C). Grease and flour the mini loaf pans or use a non-stick cooking spray (made specifically for baking).

WASH AND SHRED the zucchini. Gently press the moisture out through a strainer. Or squeeze the shreds between paper towels or tea towels to eliminate the excess water.

BLEND the vegetable oil, white, and brown sugar in a large bowl.

ADD the eggs and vanilla and mix for 20 to 30 seconds.

SIFT the flour into a separate bowl. Stir in the salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and allspice.

MIX half the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Stir the sour cream into the mixture. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir to combine. 

STIR in the shredded zucchini.

STIR in the mini chocolate chips.

DIVIDE batter into the prepared pans and place them in the preheated oven.

BAKE for 5 minutes at 425°F (220°C). Without opening the oven, reduce the heat to 350°F (175°C).

Bake for an additional 25 to 27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out with only a few crumbs.

REMOVE the pans from the oven and turn the oven off. Cool the bread for 10 minutes. Then invert the zucchini bread onto a wire rack to cool.

Tasty Tips

• If you have leftovers, cut single slices of the bread as needed rather than precut the whole loaf. Individual slices dry out quicker than a whole loaf will.

How to Store

This recipe makes 3 small loaves of delicious zucchini bread. To store leftovers, keep the bread in a zip-top bag or airtight container on the counter for about two days. After a couple of days, the bread will start to dry out.

Note: If you live in a humid climate, store the zucchini bread in the fridge to prevent mold.

This is a great recipe to freeze. Here's how:

1. Cool the chocolate zucchini bread mini loaves on a wire rack until they are completely cool.
2. Double-wrap each loaf individually with plastic wrap. Then, place the wrapped loaves either in a zip-top freezer bag or a freezer-safe container. Label the bread with the name and date.
3. Freeze for up to 6 months.

RELATED: You may also be interested in banana bread muffins and sparkling blueberry buttermilk muffins.

What to Serve With Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

My favorite way to eat zucchini bread is warm with a pat of butter. However, room-temperature bread is good too. Try a slice of bread with:

• A tall glass of cold milk

• A mug of homemade hot chocolate

Looking for More Zucchini Recipes?

• Try breakfast zucchini muffins made with Greek yogurt.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Great way to get picky eaters to chow down on zucchini.

• Delicious treat to wrap and give to friends, teachers, or family.

• Tasty snack that you can bake right before the kids come home from school.

Hungry for More Desserts?

• Snickerdoodle cookies without cream of tartar or mini snickerdoodles

• Chocolate chip Bundt cake

• Easy blueberry pie or no-bake cherry pie